The atypical shape of its main building emerges from the dunes, as facing a beach and coastline that are so important in contemporary history. There is no need to look for a better and more symbolic location than the one of the Utah Beach Museum.
A unique situation
What a strange feeling it will have when, for the first time, you arrive here! How can we imagine that, 75 years earlier, hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers landed in a few months (between June and November), paving the way for the liberation of the European continent from Hitler's yoke? Utah Beach, as you can imagine, is not the real name of this beach.
Before the tumult and crash, this was a vast expanse of sand several tens of kilometres long, going up from Baie des Veys to Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue. The hinterland here is swamps and grasslands that are heavily flooded in winter: at no time could the enemy have imagined that a large part of the landing could take place here. And yet: it was here that the Americans set foot, at the same time as they did with the Canadians, the English and the French, on the beaches of Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword, but also at Sainte-Mère-Église, Carentan and Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, by air, a few kilometres from there. The objective, from Utah: to take the deep-water port of Cherbourg, about forty kilometres from here, as soon as possible.
The Utah Beach Museum is like sitting on the dunes facing the sea. Opened in 1962, it combines rare qualities of pedagogy, emotion and exhaustiveness, and tackling the great hours of the landing cannot be done without coming to this exceptional place. Last year, no less than 150,000 visitors visited the site, a figure that will be far exceeded by 2019. The tour is organized in two main buildings, complementary and impressive.
A museum, themes
The museography, in the main building (the one directly facing the coast), makes it possible to walk through the occupation and then the liberation of the place in chronological order. We enter the darkness of the German presence here: the region, and mainly the shores, were dotted with Blockhouses, some of which still exist. And it is in one of these, completely refurbished, that you will discover the gigantic size of the enemy infrastructure.
At this point in your visit, you will be asked to reflect on the delicate situation of the Allies at this time: if the landing was the only possible way to restore the old continent's freedom, important questions remained unresolved: when, where, how? The strategy and reflections will be at the heart of this new part of the museum. If the occupier was almost certain that the landing would take place on the beaches of Pas-de-Calais, the Allies decided to surprise them. Many cards will explain this winning choice made under the guidance of General Eisenhower.
The D-Day
A little later in your visit, logically, the D-day arrives. On the morning of June 6 - after a delay of several hours due to bad weather conditions - they landed. After a night of parachuting inland, the beaches between Ouistreham, in Calvados, and Sainte-Marie-du-Mont (Utah Beach, then) in the English Channel, were difficult to reach under heavy enemy fire. At sea, boats as far as the eye can see, dropping thousands of barges loaded with soldiers. One of these barges is on display here: there is something unreal about imagining that three quarters of a century ago, dozens of them were crammed together here, without knowing if they would be alive within a minute. Above all, a real cinema offers you an exceptional film about the preparation, D-Day, and the taking of the Cotentin. To fully grasp the scope of the event, you can then join the panoramic room, located on the first floor, which offers you a complete view of the beach. What a contrast: today everything is only calm and serenity, everything was then only fury and noise.
After June 6
To complete the chronology, an additional space allows you to discover the immediate aftermath of June 6: the advance, after many days of fighting, through the Cotentin to cut the peninsula in two. The idea: to isolate the northern part of it in order to take as soon as possible the port of Cherbourg, the only port in the deep waters of the Channel, which will temporarily become, once liberated and thanks to the landing of war materials, the first in the world. Port, it will also be discussed at the Museum of Utah Beach, because few know it, but the place was during the events of the summer of 1944 an artificial port. Like that of Arromanches, but with one difference: here, no concrete caissons, but old boats, which were sunk, forming a vast space within which the boats were sheltered.
The B-26: splendid and breathtaking
Another unmissable feature is the museum's second building, which allows you to discover a real B-26. Mythical plane, with 11 machine guns operated by 7 crew members. There were 275 on Utah Beach at the time of liberation, each dropping 2 tons of bombs on the beach. The B-26 bombers were shelling the beach along with the ships in an attempt to destroy German positions before the landing. Exposed in a monumental, almost terrifying way despite the services rendered, he was nicknamed the "widowmaker". His visit was greatly helped by two American brothers, David and Gene Dewhurst, who wished to express their gratitude to the museum. The reason: during a visit to the museum, they discovered, moved, a picture of their father, an American fighter and himself a B-26 bomber pilot, who died in 1948 in a car accident.
A living museum
But the Utah Beach Museum is constantly evolving. Among the last items acquired was one of the canes owned by Theodore Roosevelt, son of the 26th President of the United States, and nephews of Franklin Roosevelt, which he had with him until his death in Méautis, a few kilometres away, on 12 July 1944. It will be exhibited soon.
Also note that the place also offers regular appointments, and temporary exhibitions such as the one called "Utah Beach, Then & Now". Its principle is simple: 28 photomontages where two photos of the same place are superimposed, one from yesterday and the other from today. All related to Utah Beach and its environment, they allow us to see the evolution of the place and to be aware of everything that has happened between Utah Beach and Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, because from now on, everything is deserted, calm and peaceful.
A place for everyone, frequent activities
For some time now, the Utah Beach Museum has been offering a visit application available in 9 languages, which also gives you the opportunity to watch a film in these languages, allowing you to meet people of many nationalities. The youngest ones are not forgotten, since an educational booklet, with many games, will allow them to discover these historical events. On the 75th anniversary of the landing in June, the museum was the centre of many events: a real military camp was set up, as well as a popular ball and even a film festival.
That's what the Utah Beach Museum is all about: a must-see. Isolated in a grandiose and totally preserved setting, it invites you, facing the historic beach and the waves that saw our liberators pass by, to relive these moments engraved for eternity. A simple and efficient museography, unpublished archives, a mythical place: everything is gathered here so that your visit will remain engraved in your memory for a long time. Let's bet it will be
Smart info
When? When? Summer seems to be the right time, but the other seasons are not lacking in charm, when the coast is deserted and the crowds are less crowded.
Getting there. By car, from Caen, take the RN13 towards Cherbourg, then, after 70 km, take the exit "Utah-Beach". From Rennes, take the A84 towards Cherbourg, then the RN175 and the RN13. From Cherbourg, take the RN13 direction Caen / Rennes.
By train, the nearest station is Carentan on the Paris-Cherbourg line. From Carentan station, it takes about 20 minutes to get there.
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